


On the run

by MudkipBrony



Series: Persona Western AU [7]
Category: Persona 2, Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, Persona | Revelations Persona, Persona: Trinity Soul
Genre: Bandits & Outlaws, Gen, Hiding Medical Issues, Memories, No like a map of the actual landscape, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Character Death, Personas are horses, Red Dead Redemption 2 Map, Running Away, Secrets, Tags Are Hard, There are ships but they aren't important, Too many characters, Trinity Soul is only mentioned, but they're there, not all of them are important
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:55:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27492289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MudkipBrony/pseuds/MudkipBrony
Summary: For years, the Persona Gang has been on the run. No home base, no special headquarters, no owned property. They don't have hundreds of men who only became outlaws for the money. They have roughly 50 people willing to die for one another. It's November 1896 and the gang is on the run once again.
Series: Persona Western AU [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981138
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Leaders Only

Ren was only part of the gang for a few months, he learned quick that if Naoya called a ‘leaders only’ meeting it meant there was bad news. He, Yu, and Kotone had started making bets about what’s the meeting about. They always did, regardless if it was a 'leaders only' meeting or not.

“500 yen saying we have to move again,” Kotone said, walking in between the younger leaders.

“Well, Toudou is sick, it has to be more serious than that,” Said Ren.

Yu patted the teenagers back. “Lighten up a bit, he’s probably just reminding us that Suou is in charge until he gets better.”

“Is that a bet Narukami-kun?” Kotone asked.

“Sure, I’ll bet a thousand yen on it,” Yu said.

The three approached Naoya’s tent and went inside. Tatsuya Suou, Maya Amano and, of course, Naoya Toudou were sitting around a round table in the middle of the tent. Before Rens eyes could adjust, Kotone and Yu were already sitting down.

“You three are late,” Tatsuya spoke up, “You should take this more seriously.”

Naoya stood up or tried to at least. As he got up his face almost slammed into the table. Tatsuya and Maya (who were sitting on either side of him) caught him before he fell. “Alright you don’t have to fondle me.” Naoya jokes.

The two let go and Naoya placed a hand on the table to balance himself. Maybe he thought it made him look more like a leader, it didn’t. “We have to move.”

Ren could read Kotone’s eyes from the other side of the table, it read: You guys owe me 500 yen. And Yu’s eyes read: Damn, I shouldn’t have bet on this. And Ren was thinking, _And these are supposed to be feared outlaws…_

“Again? Didn’t we just get here?” Ren asked.

Tatsuya gave him some side-eye. “This wasn’t a permanent settlement, just until Naoya was healthy enough to move.” His attention turned to Naoya. “Which he isn’t.”

“I am healthy!” Naoya argued, throwing his hand in the air like a child.

“No you’re not, you almost face planted into the table.” Tatsuya pointed out.

Naoya put his hand back onto the table. “Well I’m healthy enough to move! We can’t stay here, it’s too close to Saint Denis and someone is bound to come looking for our one of many cop companions.”

Tatsuya stood up. “No one is going to find us, I made sure that no one left camp grounds-”

“Ha! You made sure of nothing!” Kotone interrupted, “I’ve been coming in and out of camp for weeks! And Narukami went on a date not too long ago!”

“I thought we were just supposed to keep out of trouble.” Yu added.

Tatsuya sat back down, rubbing his head in annoyance. Naoya took back control over the meeting, “Maya, can you and Kotone start spreading the word that we’re leaving. Narukami and Tatsuya will start packing up. Amamiya stay here, I need to talk to you. Meeting adjourned."


	2. Makoto Yuki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naoya and Ren have a quick chat.

The other leaders all got up and left the tent, Ren heard Kotone whisper, "You owe me 500 yen Narukami."

"I don't owe you anything."

He saw Maya pat Tatsuya's back as everyone left. Then it was quiet, but it wouldn't be for much longer. Naoya sat, more like dropped, into his seat. "Thank god, I thought Suou would never leave..."

"Is that bad?"

"Sometimes," said the leader of the gang, "he tries to look after everyone, like it's his responsibility to make sure we all come out okay."

"Isn't it?"

Ren looked at his boss, well Naoya _was_ his boss. _Didn't he have a darker skin tone a few months ago?_ Ren thought. Sometimes it was hard to not notice the color of someone's skin, it was the first thing you saw. Whatever was on their skin was the first thing you knew about the person, and that lead to assumptions. Like Ren knew about Kanji's tattoo and Reiji's scar. But he could have sworn Naoya had a darker skin tone than he did now. _Why is he so pale? Wait. He's sick._

"Yes and no. Most gangs it's every man for himself unless the leader gets involved. I don't like that," Naoya explained, "back when it was just me and my friends, I was asked time and time again to join whatever gang was on top at the time. Do you know what I said?"

 _Where is he going with this?_ "No?"

"Yeah. I said no. Do you want to know why?"

"No not really."

"Don't be smug," he warned, "I said no because I would never leave my friends out to the dogs. I would never abandon them. I've taken many a bullet for them and I will continue to do so."

"Where are you going with this?"

Naoya tried to lean back in his chair before sitting up straight. "You remind me of one of the past leaders."

There was a pause. Was Naoya waiting for Ren to answer? "Shin Kanzato? Ulala tells that story all the time, I'd say he's more like Narukami but-"

"No not him," the man cut him off, "another one."

"There was another one?" That didn't make sense, there was only six 'gangs'... well five. Naoya's, Tatsuya and Maya merged into one gang, Kotone's, Narukami's, and Ren's. Maybe Shin too, if he even existed.

Naoya nodded and got up. He took one step and began to stumble but the man caught himself before he could fall. He kept moving, stumbling ever three steps and tripping every second. He went by his bed and picked up a photograph from under his pillow and brought it back to the table, holding it out for Ren to take. It was a nice picture, the gangs standing side by side while someone (Yukino probably) took the photo. Ren could recognize everyone there, the original gang members, the Masked Circle and their older counterparts (the only one missing being Katsuya), and SEES. The only person he didn't recognize was a man standing next to Kotone. He wasn't much taller than her, his hair was covering one of his eyes and his hands were in his pockets. Ren turned the picture over to find the date.

_October 3rd, 1889._

"Who's this?"

"Makoto Yuki, Kotone's cousin. They co-led SEES," he explained.

Ren inspected the picture some more. "I didn't know she had a cousin."

"She tries to keep that information to herself, with the rest of SEES acting the same. He was a good kid, reserved and didn't seem to care much about... anything really. He was your age back then," Naoya said sitting back down in his chair.

"What happened to him?"

From Naoya's expression Ren knew he wasn't going to like this. "It was a lot of things. He always tried to help people, but sometimes that meant he got involved with people you don't meet alone. He managed to take down more than one rival gang while he was here, which made him a walking target. Then again, he was also one hell of a thief, so the government wanted him. Then he got Tuberculosis. No one knows how or where or when he contracted it, but by the time we all found out it was too late. He didn't even tell us he caught it, Kotone did once he was already dead. But TB wasn't what killed him. He was shot or... I don't know if there's a word for it. Shot multiple times, repeatedly, just unloaded their bullets into him," Naoya revealed.

"Good God..."

"Mhm." The pale man nodded. "He was just... decapitated... when we found him the next morning. The last person he spoke to was Kotone, and she refuses to talk about it to this day. We managed to get revenge on the people who murdered him, but it wasn't the same without him around. Despite being silent he brought life to the camp if that makes sense. Thankfully Yu and the Investigation Team showed up when they did, otherwise I don't think the gang would've pulled itself together."

The young gang leader slid the photograph back to Naoya. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm not telling you this to scare you or to threaten you. Just be careful with who you involve yourself with. A warning of sorts. The life we live is dangerous and cruel, but we didn't choose it, it chose us. And you have potential, either in the thieving life or in the civilized one. I just don't want to put another member of my family six feet under." Naoya got up and held out a hand to Ren. "Come on, let's get scouting."


End file.
